


The Way Out

by ThirtySixSaveFiles



Series: Life After the Fall [3]
Category: Borderlands, Tales from the Borderlands - Fandom, borderlands: the pre-sequel
Genre: Light D/s, M/M, Spanking, altered headspaces
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-17
Updated: 2016-08-17
Packaged: 2018-08-09 07:37:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 930
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7792618
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThirtySixSaveFiles/pseuds/ThirtySixSaveFiles
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The spanking scene in <em>The Way Back</em> from Rhys' perspective.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Way Out

**Author's Note:**

> Written for an Anon for the Other Side of the Story meme on Tumblr.

Timothy shuts the door and comes around to stand in front of Rhys. He cups Rhys’ face in his large hands, face creased with concern, and asks, “what do you need?”

Rhys has to bite back his first response, which is  _ don’t touch me _ . He doesn’t mean it - he’s already craving Timothy’s touch, the relief that it brings, but when he gets like this things are...confusing, and the first thing out of his mouth is not what he really wants. Instead, because simple words are easier right now, he closes his eyes and says, “hands.”

_ Hands OFF,  _ says a little part of Rhys that is not really Rhys anymore. Rhys stomps it down.

Tim presses his mouth to Rhys’, gently, and it’s distracting enough that Tim can start getting his clothes off without protest. Rhys hears a growl come out of his mouth as Tim pushes him to his knees, but the tension strung through his body eases a bit when Tim gathers up his wrists and binds them together behind his back. Rhys tests the cloth - it’s tight, but not punishingly so, and the way it restricts his movement paradoxically makes it a little easier to breathe.

“Blindfold?” Timothy asks, and Rhys hesitates for a moment, then shakes his head. He can feel himself receding a little bit, can feel something  _ else _ trying to push through, and right now darkness isn’t going to help. He needs to stay present - at least until Timothy takes that away from him.

But Tim takes it away because Rhys has  _ asked _ him to, and that makes all the difference in the world.

Today’s not the worst it’s ever been, but this is still good timing on Tim’s part, Rhys thinks as Timothy bends him over the bed. Rhys stares at the shadow moving over the wall, and tries to tell himself that it’s from the sun coming through the scrubby branches by the window. 

It’s not. The sun’s in the wrong position for that.

Tim smooths his hands over Rhys’ sides and the back of his thighs, coming up to massage Rhys’ rear. Rhys sighs and hums, leaning back a little into Tim’s hands. He can feel his breath slowing even as anticipation mounts in his belly, even as something in the back of his brain  _ snarls. _

“Ready?” Tim says, and Rhys nods, refusing to look at the spark of blue in the corner of his eye. “Okay, then - count.”

Tim brings his hand down on the meat of Rhys’ ass with a resounding  _ slap _ , and Rhys’ whole body jerks.

“One,” Rhys says calmly through the screaming static.

_ Slap.  _ Tim does it again.

“Two.” The sting washes through Rhys’ body, clean and bright.

_ Slap.  _ And again, on the other side.

“Three,” Rhys gasps out, and now  _ everything’s  _ receding a little bit, the world narrowing down to the smack of Timothy’s hand against his flesh.

Tim continues, alternating sides and intensity in a way that makes Rhys’ breath come shorter and faster. Tim’s hands leave a tingle that spreads throughout his body, and Rhys sinks into it, letting it drown out the world. The count becomes a lifeline, anchoring him to Timothy but eventually he loses even that, awash in a sea of sensation.

At some point the stinging impacts stop, leaving his skin sensitive to the brush of Tim’s fingers as his voice filters in.

“What number are we on, Rhys?” Rhys shakes his head. He doesn’t want to answer, doesn’t want to leave this place where everything’s warm and quiet. “Come on, Rhys, give me a number.”

“I, uh-” Rhys says. Out of habit he tries to gather himself, to think through the sensation his body’s alight with, but Tim takes that opportunity to spread his cheeks and  _ licks _ right between them, and that wipes the last vestiges of sense and self-consciousness away. 

“What number, Rhys?”

“I- I don’t know, I don’t know.” Rhys opens eyes he doesn’t remember closing and looks back over his shoulder at Tim. “I don’t know,” he repeats, and the relief spreads through his body as he blinks away wetness. He doesn’t  _ know _ , he doesn’t know anything except what Tim tells him, what Tim wants from him, what Tim asks him to do.

“Shhh, it’s okay, I got you.” Tim’s voice is a soothing wave that Rhys gladly gives himself up to, lets it wrap around him like a comforting blanket  as Tim stretches him open, first with his fingers and then with his cock. The sensation carries Rhys along, and nothing else matters, there’s nothing at all that  _ could _ matter in the face of the immediacy of Timothy’s hands on him and Tim’s dick pushing inside of him. Rhys breathes through it, breathes  _ with  _ it as Timothy builds up an entirely different kind of tension inside of him, and when it releases Rhys sobs, wiped clean of everything except a brilliant white emptiness.

And then, finally, it’s quiet.

Rhys could fall asleep right there, probably, but Tim is pulling him upright and and undoing his wrists, so he might as well go along with it. Tim settles him on the bed, and Rhys feels himself smiling sleepily as Tim fusses over him, aglow in the warmth of Tim’s care. Tim shuffles him under the covers and crawls in after him, and Rhys pushes himself closer into that steady heat, brushing his lips over Tim’s neck.

“Thank you,” Rhys murmurs sleepily. He feels blissfully empty, and as he slips into sleep he feels Timothy’s arms tighten around him, keeping the world - and anything else - at bay.

**Author's Note:**

> You can find me at [ThirtySixSaveFiles](http://thirtysixsavefiles.tumblr.com) on Tumblr!


End file.
